Soul of the Bride
|image = 255px |caption = A heavenly project leads straight to an ancient underworld… |writer= Elizabeth Lenhard |published= Simon Spotlight Entertainment / Pocket Books / Simon & Schuster UK Ltd |airdate = May 22, 2001 August 6, 2001 (reprint) |director = 0743412370 / 9780743412377 |production = Season 2 | previous = The Legacy of Merlin | next = Beware What You Wish}} Soul of the Bride is the 9th novel based in the Charmed series. This novel is set sometime before Season 2 finale episode "Be Careful What You Witch For", since the story takes place in August and the episode is mentioned to be in October when Prue tells Piper she had been gone for a whole month in the following episode. Summary In a land, wandering souls. Journey with care on the River Styx, A prince of darkness plays his roles— Protect the Charmed Ones from his tricks. Prue's editor at ''415'' magazine offers her a challenge: if she takes a really fantastic photo, he'll run it on the cover. This could be Prue's big break—if she can come up with a killer concept. Then Prue gets the idea to shoot a group of models in the Halliwells' Victorian mansion. She'll even use an antique camera to capture the style of an old-time photo. But when Prue snaps the shutter, all the models collapse into a deathly slumber! To rescue the innocents, the Charmed Ones descend into Hades, fighting underworld perils and uncovering an unholy plot. To rescue the missing models, they must match wits with the greatest of the ancient Greek gods—and one of the sisters might not be allowed to return to her mortal life. Characters Major *'Prue Halliwell:' The eldest sister with the powers of Telekinesis and Astral Projection. Prue is assigned to do a summer shoot for the magazine, and accidentally uses a cursed camera that sends the models *'Piper Halliwell:' The middle sister with the power of Molecular Immobilization. She uses her knowledge of Greek mythology to help her sisters understand the Greek creatures they deal with. *'Phoebe Halliwell:' The youngest sister with the power of Premonition. In this novel, she also has the power of Flight. She gets trapped in the Underworld during a rescue mission, and now must fend for herself while her sisters work on a way to rescue her. Support *'Nikos:' Hades's son. He tried to trick Phoebe into eating food in the Underworld to make her his lover for all eternity. As the son of a god, Nikos's powers were divine and extremely strong. *'Mitchell Pearl:' National Geographic journalist and Nikos's minion. His powers involved Shapeshifting and Luring. *'Chloe:' The model playing Artemis. She attends the same school as Phoebe and is known to be a handful. *'Zeus:' The king of the Greek gods. Piper visited him for help. Minor *'Nick Caldwell:' 415 Magazine editor, and Prue's boss. *'Professor Winters:' Phoebe's art professor. *'Joey:' A model playing Ares. *'Kurt:' The model playing Apollo. *'Madelaine:' The model playing Hera. *'Charon:' The ferryman who takes souls across Rivers Acheron and Styx. *'Jessica:' The 'submissive' wife of Nikos's older brother, Philip. *'Hades:' The god of the Underworld, also known as "Hades". *'"Zeus":' The unnamed model who portrayed the Greek God Zeus. Mentioned *'Persephone:' Hades's wife. She was trapped in the Underworld forever through schemes set up by Hades when he had her consume a seed from a pomegranate produced in the Underworld. *'Philip:' Hades's son and Nikos's brother. He forced a woman named Jessica to marry him by feeding him food from the Underworld. *'Aphrodite:' The Greek Goddess of Love. *'Apollo:' The Greek God of Music and Artemis's twin. *'Artemis:' The Greek Goddess of the Hunt and Apollo's twin. *'Poseidon:' The Greek God of the Seas, Hades and Zeus's brother. He gained dominion over the sea through drawing lots with his brothers. *'Hera:' Zeus's wife. The Queen of the gods. *'Hephaestus:' Greek God of Fire. Aphrodite's husband. Magical Notes Book of Shadows Cameras :Primitive cultures have long been mocked for their belief that a camera will steal one's soul. Little do most mortals know that cameras are classic portals to points beyond. :The soul is captured by an energy vortex in a spellbound camera. It must be retrieved through the same portal. Spells To Temporarily Remove a Witch's Power :For an instant may we be, :ordinary mortals three.: :Take us where we want to go, :Then back to our powers let us go. To Send Someone to Mt. Olympus A potion is to be made with the following: :Lavender, Thyme, Sage, Saffron, :red clay, rose thorns, scales :from a silver fish (e.g. salmon) :stone chipped from sculpture :Simmer it for four hours :in a base of red wine, water and song. Once the potion is ingested, the sender will chant these words at sunrise to send the traveler off: :To the heavens, take this traveler, :As the sun rises, the sky shall have her. :One day she'll walk among the clouds, :Protect her with heaven's benevolent shroud. To Unbind a Bond Prue uses a treasured object of each of her sisters' to enact the spell with the Power of Three. :The bond which was not to be done, :Give us the power to see it undone. :And turn back time :To whence it was begun. To Call Someone Back from Mt. Olympus The spell must be cast by the sender at sunset. :From the heavens, bring the traveler, :As the sun sets, the sky shall no more have her. :One day she walked among the clouds, :Now cast her from heaven's benevolent shroud. Incantation for Lost Souls When a wandering spirit evades you, Say thee this spell, for it will aid you: :Spirit oh spirit, where are you roaming, :Follow our call and return to us running. To Accelerate Time :The bond which was not to be done, :give us the power to see it undone. :And move time forward, :for thee we shun. Powers *'Astral Projection:' Used by Prue and Nikos. *'Banishing:' Used by Nikos to send Prue and Piper back to Earth. *'Conjuration:' Used by Nikos. *'Flight:' Used by Phoebe, Harpy, and Sirens. *'Force Field:' Used by Zeus to provide Phoebe with protection from harm in the Underworld. *'Luring:' Used by Mitchell and Sirens to lure Prue and Piper. *'Molecular Immobilization:' Used by Piper. *'Power Granting:' Used by Nikos to turn Mitchell into a demon. *'Power Stripping:' Used by Nikos to revert Mitchell to mortal. *'Premonition:' Used by Phoebe. *'Shapeshifting:' Used by Mitchell to shapeshift into a demon. *'Shimmering:' Used by Nikos to teleport. *'Summoning:' Used by Nikos. *'Super Strength:' Used by Nikos. *'Telekinesis:' Used by Prue to fight the enemies. *'Transformation:' Used by Nikos. Artifacts *'Book of Shadows:' The Halliwell family's tome of spells and information. *'Cursed Camera:' Nikos's artifact, capable of sending any mortal's soul it takes a picture of to the Underworld, particularly Hades—the Greek region of the Underworld. Locations *'Mount Olympus:' Dominion of the Greek Gods. *'Hades:' Greek part of the Underworld, ruled by Hades. Notes and Trivia *Prue is able to cast a Power of Three spell using two symbolic items of her sisters. *Prue's boss doesn't have an August cover for the magazine, but the novel takes place during the middle of August. A large photo-journalism serial would have their cover photos ready weeks before if it was a monthly periodical in order to allow time for editing and printing. For Prue, it is July being 5 months before writing Christmas cards, as well as taking the photo before August. Cultural References *This novel heavily features Greek mythology. **Several Greek mythological creatures are featured: Sirens, Gorgons, Cerberus, Hydra, Harpy, and Centaur. **The following Greek gods have been mentioned: Aphrodite, Apollo, Artemis, Persephone, Poseidon, Hera and Hephaestus. **Like in the myths, the Greek Underworld is named after Hades. Differences from the Show *Phoebe has the power of flight. **On the show, she develops the power of levitation in October. *Phoebe has dyed her hair blond. *The Season 5 finale shows that the ancient gods were actually mortals who had received their powers from the Elders. *The Sirens in this novel are described as having seagull bodies and kill with knives. However, in Siren Song, the Siren appears as a human and kills with a kiss of death. *The name of the magazine editor "Mr. Caldwell" was shown in the series to be the new head of Buckland Auction House as revealed in Ms. Hellfire. *Prue mentions Piper learned Latin in high school and knows a lot about mythology. On the show, Prue is the one who speaks it, and knows more about mythology than either of her sisters. Errors *On the first page it has Piper paired with Nikos and then unpeeled from Phoebe, when she is paired with someone else and not unpeeled within the chapters of the book. International titles *'French:' La fiancée de Nikos (The Bride of Nikos) *'Russian:' Duša ǌevjesty (Soul of Bride) livre09.JPG|French cover CoverNormal.jpg|Russian cover Category:Charmed Novels Category:Charmed Merchandising Books Category:Merchandise